illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Learn how to draw a corporate background image in adobe illustrator, vector illustration using basic tools #adobeillustrator #graphicdesigner #graphicdesigntools #vectortutorial #vectortut

Learn how to draw a corporate background image in adobe illustrator, vector illustration using basic tools #adobeillustrator #graphicdesigner #graphicdesigntools #vectortutorial #vectortut

Creating backgrounds which are effective is an essential part of the process of creating good designs .Here we will create a background which you can use for multiple projects in the end , ie background for presentations , for websites or simply an ad. This is a simple tutorial showing step by step how to create one using tools such as Pen tool , brushes and a simple Arc Effect.

lessons illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Step 1

Creating background

Start off by creating a simple gradient background Here is the Theme of colours we will follow

01

It is always a good idea to have it clear in your mind what theme you are going to follow . I use often use colourlovers.com to help me in this process.

09

Step 2

Drawing Bleded lines

Using the pen tool draw two white stroke Lines having no fill.

02 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Go to Object> Blend> Blend options

03 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Adjust your blending options to some specified steps , something like this.

04 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Hit Alt+Ctrl+B ie Object>Blend>Make

05 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Create in the same way two more lines using Pen Tool (P) and using Object> Blend > make

06 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Since your lines are all placed up now will be a good idea to play around with the nodes ( click on the End of start of your original line) adjust handle and stroke to get a better effect and curve in the lines. Here is my final result which i am happy with

illustrator Tutorial how to create a business vector graphics background

 

Step 3

Elements Build up

Now we need to bring some elements into it . I brought This worldmap from my library and pasted it on the workboard

Right Click > Arrange> Bring to Front

08 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Using a colour coinciding with the theme of your work colour the map accordingly

10 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Step 4

Using Effects

I will use some effect to modify this map a bit

Go to Effects> ARC

11 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Apply the effects you will get something like this

12 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Step 5

Creating Arrows using Brushes

create some more random lines using the pen tool

13 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

open up your brush pallete Window> Brush Libraries > Arrows Standard

14 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Select all your random lines and pick out an arrow brush and apply

15 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Select each line one by one adjust stroke and width until you are satisfied with the outcome go to object>Expand your lines and drop a gradient shade to it , here i picked up from my colour pallete white and grey.

16 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Step 6

Refining and Balancing

I am not too happy with the background at this point so i will add up a few more shapes .

17 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

And more

18 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

fill them up with the same gradient colour lighter than your background’s adjust transparencies until you are satisfied with the final outcome!

Here is the result.

19 illustrator Tutorials : How to Create a corporate background using Brushes for illustrator

Drop of Water Vector illustrator Tutorial- illustration background

Drop of Water Vector illustrator Tutorial -(illustration background vector tutorial)

In this vector illustrator tutorial of a water effect illustration background tutorial, I will walk you through the process that i have used in one of the design projects i finished recently .

You will learn how to use mesh tool to create water droplets using adobe illustrator , you will learn to use the symbol sprayer tool using symbol of water droplets and dispersing them .

The final effect of water effect seems to be a bit detailed while it is not that difficult to get the result .

Here is a preview of the final image we will be creating by the end of tutorial .

Tools Required : Adobe Illustrator CCir?t=artinsstu 20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00CS75N2I Drop of Water Vector illustrator Tutorial- illustration background

Final preview of drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

drop

Step 1 Creating Water background

For this vector tutorials illustrator Lets start by creating water droplets . I created a circle used mesh tool to divided it with two clicks > dropped a lighter and a darker shade on the nodes of the circle.

>> If you are not familiar with Mesh tool check out this tutorial that i wrote about using mesh tool , i love this tool!

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Once a circle is created now we need to create random shapes of water , Use Wrap tool and play around with shapes to gain a few random droplets .

If you are not familiar with select tools in illustrator you might consider heading on over to this tutorial where i cover some of the basics of illustrator.

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Randomly arrange them. select all and drop it into your symbol window.

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Create a Rectangle and fill it up with a gradient colour lighter to darker and radial.

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Drop the water drop symbols on your work area . Use symbol sprayer tool to play around with the symbols and randomly distribute the droplets.

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Use symbol Shifter tool to disperse the droplets

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Here I Reduced the transparency of the entire group and reduced the size.

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Create a copy , rotate a bit to get a more dispersed effect.

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Step 2 Creating the Text

My aim is to create a text with water feel to it . Here i typed the word Water in bold and strong and created outlines ( object > Create outline)

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Create a copy of it and apply gaussian Blur

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Create five copies in all save one for later use , colour and gaussian blur as seen below four of them. To one of them i applied a stroke of the art brushes ( line Art 50 right) and gave a stroke of white colour..

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Here is the arrangement one clear copy goes over its guassian copy.

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Here is what i get by stacking up all over each other in the order you see them above

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

To the fifth copy that we saved apply feather as seen below. This MAY very depending on your document size.

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Place the feathered text over the top most layer. Effects> Stylize > Round Corners . Use Round Corners to give the top most layer a soft look.

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Create a cutout shape from one of the text copies

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

dicard the rest place the cut out which we will use as a highlight on top of all the text layers. set opacity

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Create small shapes which we will use as a higlight to over all effect place it over your tex area above the cutout layer. Set opacity

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Step 3 Concluding

you can adjust the colour of the water by playing with the text layers and setting up transparencies .

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

elect the water droplets and > Arrange > Bring to front. > set opacity.

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Want to learn more about a few of adding effects to text in illustrator ? you might be interested in how i gave a grungy effect to some text . The effect is simple yet it is rewarding.

Preview

drop of water vector illustrator tutorial

Save for later Share it!

How to Create a Water Effect in Vector Step by step Drop of Water Vector illustrator tutorial – (illustration background vector tutorial)

You May also like Some more vector tutorials illustrator withText Effect !

 How to Create a 3D RSS Icon

 Tutorial: Create a cool water effect

 Add grunge effect to your text

38 Illustrator Tutorials to get you started

 

How to do Reverse Image Search for your images or illustrations

How to do Reverse Image Search for your stock photo or illustrations.

Google’s  “Reverse image search” seems to be a pretty handy tool for designers and artists , for an illustration artist or graphic designer , who are selling or licensing their artworks this little but mighty tool can be quite useful . This can be used to help artists find unauthorized uses of their works.

reverse image search

 

RELATED ARTICLE : 16 PLACES TO SELL STOCK PHOTOS ONLINE

Discover all sorts of content that’s related to a specific image. Just specify an image, and you’ll find other similar or related images as well as relevant results from across the Web.

What s Reverse Image Search and Why do I need one?

Being an artist while I sell stock photo and illustrations through stock photo websites and as free vectors PNG illustrations. I have to time and again keep an eye on stolen graphics. There are a few websites that cross the ethical line and repost images without proper consent and affiliation of images.

Even though my Free Vector PNGs are free to download but they do come with a limitation of credit back with a link to my website. Many content creators and bloggers sometimes repost these images without doing that.

Can you Reverse Image Search to find Graphics?

 

Of course you can reverse image search to find your graphics I have done it multiple times and have sent DCMA notice a couple of times and go them removed. For example my tutorial of how to recolor artwork in illustrator has some pretty high quality black and white outlines.

iilustrator vector tutorial recolor vector art in illustrator

 

Hence many coloring book websites have stolen images from this tutorial and posted them as their own. Using Reverse image search on google has helped me tremendously to find these.

Can you reverse search an image on a phone?

 

You can reverse image search on your Android device with Google Chrome. You can also reverse image search through google chrome on your phone. Open a web page by tapping and holding the image and then choosing to search with Google Lens. If the image is stored on your phone, you can tap on the Google Lens icon in Chrome’s search bar

reverse image search

What are the best Reverse image Search Tools?

 

Searching for the original source of an image you find online can be a tedious task. These free sites make it simple to find out where a photo came from by doing a reverse search. Reverse image searches are especially useful when you’re looking for a safe use of an image or if you want to find out if your content has been stolen.

Keeping in view my experience from a creators point of view although google will deliver many images for each search result it is NOT OK to simply save the images found in searches and using them in your projects. Thankfully you have the option to dig deeper and find out the source of the image. Find the copyright information or the creator of the image.

Reach out to the designer where necessary to get the permission to use their creation on your website with proper link back and credit information. IF this is too much you can else search Vintage Stock photo websites for images or buy or purchase stock photos with relevant usage rights.

1- Google image Search

Google reverse image search engine is one of the first ones that started providing its services and back in the days I only knew of google image search.This is how I found out early on when the Art Licensing agent I was working with kept selling my art through POD websites without my consent.

Read the full Story Right Here  : What they aren’t telling you about selling Art Online

How can you do reverse image search on Google?

 

Simply go to google and look up for reverse image, or Click here to land on the page to do the search.

  1. Upload an image from your computer
  2. Drop the image into a search bar
  3. Click “Search”

2- Yahoo image Search

Doing image search on yahoo is pretty much the same as the other search engines that do the reverse image search for free. You have the image ready with you and simply upload it to the search engine to do the image search.

The results are not exactly the same on search engines, which is due to the search results and website indexing on the said search engine.

How to reverse image search using Yahoo Image Search?

 

  1. Select an image from your computer
  2. Upload it or drag and drop it into the search bar
  3. Click “Search”

3-Bing visual Search

Bing visual search is provided by Microsoft back in 2014. You can now use images to search the content instead of using text to do this task.

How do i search Bing with an image?

 

  1. Select the Images tab at the top of any search results page, or go to Bing images.
  2. In the search box, select the camera icon.

4-Tin Eye image Search

Believe it or not but my very first encounter with reverse image search was with using Tin Eye image search. A vary handy similar extension for firefox which i have been using for a while is TINEYE . Which is i guess MORE practical for me and a bit more quicker! .

How does Tin Eye work to search images?

 

Capture How to do Reverse Image Search for your images or illustrations

You can do that by uploading an image or searching by URL. You can also simply drag and drop your images to start your search.TinEye constantly crawls the web and adds images to its index. Today, the TinEye index is over 56.0 billion images.

5-Pinterest Image Search

Being a graphic designer and visual artist Pinterest image search is by far the most loved website I use. Since the flip side of using pinterest search is that if you are creating products then this tool will definately come in handy.

How to use Reverse image search on mobile with Pinterest?

 

“Computer vision technology is no longer just a futuristic idea — it’s made its way out of the labs and into the hands of Pinners who use the technology every day. From camera search where a picture is entered as the query, to saving Pins, visual signals power search, recommendations and results across Pinterest.” – Pinterest blog

While using Pinterest app you will see a search icon at the bottom of your feed. Tapping on the search icon will present you with a text box and a camera button this feature in Pinterest is called pinterest lens. Lens lets you discover ideas inspired by anything you point your Pinterest camera at which is awesome!.

  1. Open the Pinterest app on your mobile device and tap
  2. Tap  in the search bar
  3. Pinch to zoom or tap on a specific object to focus your camera
  4. Tap the button to snap a picture or select a photo from your camera roll
  5. Explore and discover ideas.

Can you use pinterest lens to do reverse image search? Yes ! sure you can just upload your photo and see pinterest score the internet and find your images and graphics. Really cool if you are trying to find your artwork used online or elsewhere.

CONCLUSION

Being a creator and Artist it is vital to keep an eye on your graphics and illustrations if you are using Graphic Design to create products to sell online. Using reverse image tools can save you time and in some cases money by finding people or websites using your images without proper credit backs. I have found it to be useful for myself and would suggest that you should do the same.

I would love to know how you use image search feature online and what are your experiences being a designer and artist. Have you found these website useful in your creative process as I have?

reverse image search 2 How to do Reverse Image Search for your images or illustrations

How to do Reverse Image Search for your stock photo or illustrations.

 

illustration tutorials : How to Vector RSS Icon with Illustrator

adobe illustrator tutorial draw RSS icon in vector step by step tutorial

adobe illustrator tutorial draw RSS icon in vector step by step tutorial

untitled-3.jpg

Step 1

Lets start by creating a new file , pick out the bright orange colour in your selected colours and start off by making a square with rounded rectangle tool
01.gif

Step 2


Draw a small circle using Ellipse tool pressing shift while creating will give you a perfect round.

02.gif

Step 3


use the pen tool to read a path something like this with stroke edges selected as straight as seen in the following image

03.gif

Step 4


Repeat step 4 this time add a central node as well which will help you achieve a better shape by adjusting it using anchor points

04.gif

Step 5


Select both the paths and go to object>Expand in the menu which will show up the Expand window , select the stroke expand and hit ok….

 

Related vector Tutorial : How to Create a drop of water vector tutorial

05.gif

Step 6


now select all the assets and right click and group . This is important as now when we are going to apply a 3D effect to it illustrator will take it as front face….

06.gif

Step 87


Now go to Effects>3D>Extrude and bevel with the group selected

07.gif

Step 8


Play around with the options in the window i have chosen 42 perspective , extrude depth 25pt , and rotate dimensions accordingly . You might like to keep the preview checked and view what is going on 🙂

08.gif

Step 9


here i have taken the image to photoshop to give it some gradience and play around with it since it is already done you can now do anything with it!

09.gif

The finished RSS 3d icon

untitled-3.jpg[/private]

How To Make a Heart in illustrator Step By Step

how to make a heart in illustrator step by step : Adobe illustrator tutorial

Are you are looking to draw a heart step by step in illustrator? this Adobe illustrator tutorial consists of using the basic tools in illustrator and will also help you to learn the basic of using Adobe illustrator as your drawing tool.

Check out all the Adobe illustrator Deals 

A heart is a geometric shape and getting a perfect cute heart in illustrator is quite easy , Here i will use simple shape of a circle to modify it into a heart shape although it is not too much of a process . But i am going to show it to you how to draw a heart step by step so you can easily understand the process of it .

01.jpg

This Adobe illustrator Tutorial is somewhat of a beginner level But since valentines day is approaching and you will be seeing hearts everywhere OR will be looking for that perfect heart shape drawing to be integral part of your design . Why not make it yourself !
Without delay here is the step by step drawing process of a heart shape in Adobe illustrator vector.

 

How to Draw Heart in Adobe illustrator step by step

Drawing a heart shape Step 1 :

01a.jpg

Start with Ellip tool L

Draw two circles while pressing down shift , this will ensure that you get a perfect circle.

Hold on to the alt key while selecting the first circle , which will duplicate your current shape .

Drawing a heart shape Step 2

03.jpg

Press shift while you drag the copy towards the right , this will ensure that your circles are aligned while you move one of them. Open the path finder window ( short cut Shift+ctrl+F9 ) by going to windows > pathfinder

Drawing a heart shape Step 3

04.jpg

Select both of your circles and hit the expand button while pressing alt . this will join both of your circles your circle will look now something like this

Drawing a heart shape Step 4

05.jpg

Click on the direct selection tool ( Shortcut A)

Drawing a heart shape Step 5

06.jpg

Select the node in the middle and while pressing shift bring it down a bit something like this…

Drawing a heart shape Step 6

 07.jpg

Now we need to adjust the shape of the heart . Start by deleting the two anchor points as illustrated…

Drawing a heart shape Step 7

09.jpg

Now adjust the angles of the four anchor points as shown

We have a perfect heart shape now

Drawing a heart shape Step 8

10.jpg
Fill it with colour of your choice

The supportive eps file will be available for download on coming friday so subscribe or register today if you dont want to miss it!

how to draw heart step by step

Related Adobe illustrator Tutorials for beginners :

Know thy workspace

Drawing Basics

HOW TO DRAW A CARTOON CHARACTER ILLUSTRATION 

Using Pathfinder Create a Personalized Badge for your site

Create a simple heart using pen tool

Using Filters Adobe illustrator tutorial.

10 Awsome features in illustrator CS4 that increase creativity to MAX!

How to Create a Pop Design Element using  Spiral Tool

The Mirror Technique: – Creating a Cool Monogram using brushes

An Introduction to Envelope Tool

Draw a Skull illustration 

Create an envelope icon with a satin feel

Using Gradients Create a balloon wallpaper

how to make a heart step by step : Adobe illustrator tutorial

Graphic Design Tools Online Series : Stencil

If you are seeking to wow your customers then this Graphic Design Tools Online Series if going to do just that for you. This series comprises of graphic design tools online free and paid .

graphic design tools online 1 Graphic Design Tools Online Series : Stencil

Looking for graphic design tools online then you must check out this series of canva alternative, grpahic design online software to create images and graphics for your blog or social media.

This post includes affiliate link and I get paid a small commission every time someone decides on purchasing the product they found through me. However please know that all that i share comes from my honest opinion and I was not contacted by the creators of stencil for this post. 

You do not have to be a graphic design wizard or a pro any more to product awesome images and graphics online. Gone are the days when you had to go down the difficult route of spending hours struggling with graphic design softwares no there are plenty available online for free.

Today I am introducing you to Stencil!

No more spending hours on youtube trying to learn complicated programs to accomplish your everyday graphic design needs. Stencil is a very simple and intuitive platform that in my opinion is exact rival to Canva. Sometimes there are hidden gems found if you only know where to find them!

Ok so What exactly is Stencil and how this can take on place of your regular graphic design tool online?

59111310993fc Graphic Design Tools Online Series : Stencil

Stencil as your online design maker

Create sleek images for social media posts, ads, blog posts, and more, plus organize your designs with custom collections. It doesn’t matter if you are a graphic designer, a personal Virtual Assistant or a Novice Blogger. We all know that sometimes the most time consuming part of doing business online is the creation of continuous graphics and we are always looking for free graphic design templates. 

As soon as you login you are presented with a clean and professional interface that is much similar to Canva but in my opinion if Canva is still complicated then you might want to take a look into using Stencil. The interface is much cleaner and there isn’t much “noise” should you choose it to be your online design maker.

graphic design tools online Graphic Design Tools Online Series : Stencil

Alternative to: Canva, PicMonkey, and Venngage

While Canva, PickMonkey and Venngage are great tools on their own Stencil can be your simplest alternative to any of these. The interface just comprises of free graphic design templates that you can edit with ease. There are a collection of quotes and icons library making it real easy to create something if the tech side of online graphic design tools scare you.

Quick and easy graphic design tools online

So the fun part here is that if you are a Social media marketers, bloggers, and content teams looking to make awesome graphics in less time then you are at the right place check out the video below with some detailed explanation by people at Stencil

5910c34f8768a Graphic Design Tools Online Series : Stencil

Creating high quality graphic design and images is a breeze with stencil You can access gorgeous stock photos, dope templates, clean icons and graphics, artsy filters, and Google fonts that transcend Comic Sans (plus personal fonts you can upload).

design your own picture online for free Graphic Design Tools Online Series : Stencil

Create amazing graphics instantly

Use various filters, icons, filters and fonts to create amazingly creative graphics instantly! And whoever you are ready you can share your creative work directly to social media. While you do that fear not the graphics will be saved to your library to be accessed later. This means that you can create graphic design templates that can be used over and over again.

stencil2021 1 Graphic Design Tools Online Series : Stencil

Seamless integration and posting to social media

This one feature I swear can save you tons of time and while I was using Canva it really bugged me that their posting to social media feature is kind of wonky. When you edit the design it edits the scheduled post as well. Say what?? Well at the time of writing this post if they have made an update to this particular feature then kindly let me know !

5910f78636c25 Graphic Design Tools Online Series : Stencil

So when you are done with creating a graphic design maybe for your blog post or your product offers, then you can directly choose to post it to social media.  The social posting feature allows you to post to facebook , twitter, pinterest, instagram and guess what Buffer! . Now this is interesting as if you have access and direct add it to buffer you can schedule it to be posted across all your media profiles which ofcourse is another story!

Images are sized accordingly ! what else would you need?

591111027f105 Graphic Design Tools Online Series : Stencil

Web browser connectivity an added feature

With add-on options for Chrome and Firefox along with a handy WordPress plugin, you can make magic right in your browser instead of waiting on slow process-heavy programs

design Wizard

Say what? Install the WordPress Plugin and create images from within WordPress as you create posts

WordPress Plugin

Install the WordPress Plugin and create images from within WordPress as you create posts.

Safari Extension

Add the Stencil button to your Safari toolbar and start creating images from anywhere.

Firefox Add-on

Add the Stencil button to your Firefox toolbar and start creating images from anywhere.

Chrome Extension

Add the Stencil button to your Chrome toolbar and start creating images from anywhere.

Get a live preview of your masterpiece before publishing it to the world!

59111fca144e0 Graphic Design Tools Online Series : Stencil

How to sell custom printed products using Printful

This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.

It doesn’t matter if you have graphic design abilities or not ,
it doesn’t matter if you are a savvy artist ,
it doesn’t matter if you are a guru in art .
You can start selling your Art on products starting today.
And in this post I will break it down for you step by step!

stock vector artist supply illustration visual arts doodles painting and drawing street art background color 1181942914 How to sell custom printed products using Printful

Why sell your art on products?

If you are an artist then I would respond why not? there is a potential for you to sell your single piece of artwork many ways , by many ways I mean many many ways. You can sell your art as Art Prints , multiple times , you can sell the same art on T-shirts , Notepads , planners, coloring books , bed spreads , towels , door mats and ……..

The possibilities are endless, believe me when i say that as Artists , designers and illustrators we are already one step ahead of earning a passive income online. One step ahead of many many many people out there who spend hundreds of dollars before hand to get their hand on one artwork that they can sell over surfaces.

You have the basic skill as an artist that you can monetize very very easily. Leverage that ! .

And

if you are NOT an Artist fear not there are many ways you can acquire art to sell on multiple products , there are many people who are using graphics, cliparts and illustrations that I have created and are available to create products using them.

Related Post : How to Use Graphic Design To Sell Things Online

So Why would you sell art on products ? its leveraging your potential your gifts and earning passive income while doing what you love.

Increase your exposure and skyrocket your income by creating and selling digital products through your blog. Click to read the full detail on how to multiply your passive income by selling digital products online

How to create and prepare artwork for products

First and foremost , google image search results are not your go to place to get art to produce on products. It is true that you can stumble upon wonderful high quality photos and images but they are not OK for commercial use. And if “stolen” artwork is used in creating and selling products you can get into trouble with the original creator of the art.

❣️ So where can you get art for products?

You can create illustrations and graphics yourself or you can get artwork from websites that sell art for use in creating products , You can get Art directly from the artists and pay them for commercial use of the design. A few of the websites from where you can get art from are stock photo websites. Some of these websites are

Shutterstock
Dreamstime
CreativeMarket
Etsy

 there are many more websites from where you can bye images with a commercial use licence to create your products

Related Post : 17 Places to Sell Graphics Online ( where you can get images from as well )

❣️Resolution and art quality

The resolution of the artwork highly affects the printing quality And the quality of the product and your end results really don’t want to sell something with a crappy printing over it if your 8 is a flow resolution then no matter how high level printing you use your product will not be the same. in short low resolution is equal to to a low quality product which is equal to you unhappy customers which is equal to losses in your business Plus more refund requests

 

❣️ Licensed vs personal use graphics

I have already discussed earlier on in this post about using licensed versus personal use graphics .  when you are using licensed images you are most likely creating products that are unique and high quality.  just remember that personal use graphics that are not licence for used commercially can be harmful to your business in the long run.  so it is better to discuss with the artist of the image if you plan to use there graphics on surface of products.

My personal experience with an art licensing company that is still using my graphics over products leaves Asar taste in my mouth whenever this comes up.  so in short this is how we respect the designers.

Related Resource : Commercial use Graphics and Cliparts

Related post : What they are not telling you about selling Art online

❣️Best dimensions for the artwork for best quality

 When it comes to you preparing your art to place on various products the best dimensions to start with would be around 2400 pixels and above with 300 DPI at least. I always use batching hacks and scripts when I work this not only helps me to create multiple versions and sizes of files but also speed up the creation process

Related Post: Batch process in Photoshop : 28 Useful Free Scripts to speed up your work

Scripts for illustrator : 5o Scripts for illustrator 

❣️ Speed up Product Creation for Printed Products using Printful

Life becomes so easy when you can easily focus on creating new art and hand over the job of printing to someone else. The printing company that  I use is Printful . This website provides the templates and the dimension requirements for the images to upload and place over the products. There are many products you can choose from that best suits your art that includes Hoodies , t-Shirts , Art prints , Home Accessories , Kids and youth clothing.

Sellartonproducts How to sell custom printed products using Printful

I love using Printful’s Mockup generator to create products , think about it all you have to do is upload the artwork , the mockup the printing and shipping and delivery is all taken care of by this company Below is a Mug design that I created for Graphic Designer Moms. All I had to do was to create the artwork and place it over blank mockup file and download the relevant images to use in my marketing and in social media.

Increase your exposure and skyrocket your income by creating and selling digital products through your blog. Click to read the full detail on how to multiply your passive income by selling digital products online mockup Handle on Right 11oz How to sell custom printed products using PrintfulThere are many companies  that provide the service of printing the products and most likely they have templates you can download and create you are ready to print files.For example with Printful you can download template files with bleads where you can place your art and upload . This will help you get the best results. I always recommend vector EPS files as they can be and last without any restrictions of losing the quality of the final image.

Within printful you can choose to create product creation templates that you can reuse everytime you decide to create a new product this can be reused over and over again. Just change the image of the template and you haev a brand new product to sell online through your store.

Sellartonproducts 1 How to sell custom printed products using Printful

❣️ How to setup Printful on your blog?

So What is the combination of other resources that I use to make the product delivery easy?. If you have a wordpress blog then all you need is woo-commerce as additional plugin , Printful plugin and a printful account ! as easy and simple as that . Printful easily connects with your online shop and seamlessly pushes the order to printful where it is created and shipped.

Ready to start selling Printed products using Printful ? Lets get started ! Signup for a free account

 

Mailchimp alternative and How to set up a Newsletter for your blog for free

To some this will be a very basic thing but for some this is something that they really need help with , If you are someone who is new to blogging or thinking about setting up a blog ( Start a blog is very easy do it now ) or plainly want to set up a newsletter this post is for you.

For someone who is in the initial phase of doing business online setting up all these tech can be daunting and really confusing, it all seems like it is a BIG task that you need to accomplish and chances are you are putting it off to a time when you are free or when you have time in your hands. Well you are in for a treat you are going to set up a newsletter for free in just a few steps today and even have it all set up and installed in a few steps.

mailchimp alternative Mailchimp alternative and How to set up a Newsletter for your blog for free

Here is what we are going to cover in this blog post

  • Why do you really need a newsletter ?
  • What do you need to do in order to get the most out of your newsletter?
  • Which is the best program out there for starters and Mailchimp alternative?
  • Where to get your initial subscribers?
  • 3 steps you need to do before you start sharing your newsletter/

Why do you really need a newsletter ?

If you have a business online or are even blogging for fun,  maybe you have an instagram account that is booming and maybe you have a facebook following or a group . You think that this is the best mode of communication with your tribe . But wait! These platforms are although the best places to get in touch with your clients or readers or community. But really you can not track how many of them are loyal to your content. How many and the other metrics like what people are clicking on and what are they most interested in . These metrics can be measured only by directing these people to your website or blog and Newsletter could be your best tool when it comes to learning more about them.

Having a newsletter means , you can send them periodic offers, product launches , News about the latest and when they forget to login to facebook you can always pop in their email account. Facebook , instagram and twitter can suddenly wake up one day to a totally new rule and maybe you get locked out or whatever way universe plays. You can loose your community .

What do you need to do in order to get the most out of your newsletter?

My top tip? frequency! yep stay connected with your audience with atleast 4 emails / month . 3 of which could be full of value and one with your offer. People connect with stories , share your life and share your struggles and also give them a chance to get specials through offers and promos .

I am guilty of not emailing much and I am also guilty of removing optins from my website because I was getting 100+ email subscribers per day, while I had no time to connect authentically with them. Authenticity is the key, my email open rate for some lists have been 50% which is considered Awesome by industry standards. This mean that people are reading your emails and connecting . AND this happens when you are sharing value rich emails.

Which is the best program out there for starters and Mailchimp alternative?

free email Mailchimp alternative and How to set up a Newsletter for your blog for free

I use MailerLite  other programs that I have used in the past and are free to start are

Where to get your initial subscribers?

  • Best practices are to set up a list in your email client.
  • offer something of value to your website or blog visitors in return of their email address
  • Write 3-4 blog posts around the topic of that Value freebie
  • Attach this free download to your welcome email
  • insert this code on your blog in sidebar and inside all of these blog posts.
  • Create atleast 3 pinterest images of these blog posts and share them in relevant groups and your profile ( here is how promote mine on autopilot )
  • Write 3-4 automation emails following the download email this can be done inside Mailerlite as well.
  • And done!

Now once you have created this plan of action you will continue to get consistent subscribers and they will continue to receive initial emails until your next update email send as an update.

Let me know if you need any help with this <3 I am here to help

Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

How i use tailwind as Pinterest Scheduler to increase sales of my digital products and increase traffic to my blog

BLOG TRAFFIC INSTANTLY 1 Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

I have been listening and reading about how Pinterest is a very useful tool to increase sales and to drive traffic to your products for a while now. And I read hundreds of blog posts on the same topic too. So I started experimenting with my own account on pinterst.

I was instantly able to double my online sales ! But following and sticking to a solid posting schedule was becoming a tough task. I found out that if I use Pinterst regularly and shared my each and every content on a regular basis to my own and other group boards I was getting a spike in traffic and sales.

In case you are wondering I have a product based business on etsy where I sell Wall Stickers and Wall decals. Also I have some digital products and illustrations that I sell through this website and through etsy as well.

I admit that although I had subscribed to Tailwind for Pinterest for while but I was not fully utilizing it to its full potential and capacity. I was never a fan of various schedulers until I realized that I really need a tool to help me keep myself sane . And since I had already noticed increase in my sales through Pinterest I knew it is time to take it seriously. The very first step within your blog is to optimize your pins for greater conversion I have covered this in one of my previous posts on where I share my on blog strategy to optimize my pin you can read about it here.

Below is a screen shot from one of my pinterest profiles and this is just the current month stats.

profile Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

Do keep in mind that this post contains affiliate links and in case you decide to purchase anything using my links I will get a small commission from the service provider. However trust me that I only share tools services and softwares that I have myself used and enjoyed and found also found useful.

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Since I started using Tailwind I have never looked back.

I am going to share a full walk-through of how I use pinterest to get blog and shop traffic below.

Why use Tailwind?

After viewing my analytics and realizing that the biggest traffic driving source is pinterest , I really needed to up my game and get serious about it.
I had been using boardbooster for a while now, and I liked it to the extent that it helped me ” Pin the pins for me” but once i decided to up my game I had to play serious!

My aim was to double my sales at that time my monthly earning from my wall decal business was accumulating to around $1200. I believe that creating amazing products is very important but then after the product is created 80% of efforts should go into marketing it and placing it in front of the right audience.
And since I knew my audience was hanging out over at pinterest. I had to take my leap.
I had previously signed up for the free Tailwind trial but it was only when i signed up for the initial month ( that gave me more pins to pin) I started seeing instant results.

tailwind free trial coupon Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

Here are some of the reasons why I recommend Tailwind:

  • It is the only scheduler approved by Pinterest there are others like Viraltag, FriendMe+ and formerly Boardbooster, Hoostsuite but Tailwind is approved by pinterest.
  • It’s only 9.99/month with the yearly plan where you will get unlimited pins.
  • You get a suggested times optimized plan for your pinning schedule
  • You get access to tailwind tribes
  • You can create board lists and by categorizing your content you can pin them to board lists, this helps you to control the content when pinning to relevent boards.
  • You can use Smart Loops to create seasonal content lists, and when the season arises you have to take no extra actions and release seasonal sales , promotions and posts on autopilot.
  • Access to Analytics to better optimize your content sharing strategy this includes
    • Profile performance,
    • Board insights,
    • Pin inspector,
    • Website insight,
    • organic activity
    • Referral Traffic

Here are some of the reasons why Tailwind will help you gain more clients:

  • With increase in more eyeballs on your product you will be able to increase sales
  • You can have more traffic to your website
  • You can increase subscribers and followers
  • You can have tailwind set up once and then forget it.
  • Your posts will get published across all media while you concentrate on creating and working on new ideas

Tailwind Strategy that I use to increase Sales:

iconfinder flower 2006448 Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website CREATING A POSTING SCHEDULE

One of the features that tailwind provides is the optimized time slots. You can create a weekly pinning schedule where tailwind will autogenerate time slots for you that best suits you. You will be asked to choose number of pins that you want to pin daily and hit create schedule and BOOM! youve got yourself a time based plan !. All the pins that you pin will be released to pinterest whenever the next time slots allows it to. So this means that you  have a total control over number of pins and frequency of the pins that you want to push through Tailwind.

tailwing posting schedule Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

This is a screenshot from my Tailwind dashboard, you can access this from under the publisher tab on the left hand side menu. You have choice to choose how many pins you would like to pin each day. The green slots are the suggested times provided and set by Tailwind. And the green dotted times are Other suggestions that I can use with just one click!.

I also have the option to add time slots manually should I choose to do so , You will find a Add time slot button on left side in order to manually add time slots.

If at any later time you decide not to post on a time slot and delete it , no worries because the pin will automatically be shifted to next available time slot.

So how do you know when is the right time to pin, it really depends upon person to person and content to content. There is nothing to loose, I personally started with pins as less as 15 and increasing my pinning keeping in view the interaction that i saw on my pins. Currently my plan includes 50 pins per day.

iconfinder flower 2006448 Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website BOARDS LISTS AND HOW TO USE THEM

WHAT ARE GROUP BOARDS?

The best thing you can do to increase eyeballs on your products , services or blog posts is to join various group boards. There are tons of group boards on various topics. So which boards to join? look for boards that have your audience, people who are likely to interact with your content, blog post or product. If your niche audience is mom bloggers then look for group boards where they will hang out. Use PinGroupie to find some boards and send them request to be added.

HOW TO FIND AND JOIN GROUP BOARDS?

The trick is to find high quality boards. I usually measure this by looking at the number of pins, followers and number of contributors. Most of the boards either require you to send them email , join their facebook group or simply leave a comment. Usually their descriptions will mention the process.

Another way to find good group boards is by spying on your competition, see which boards they are contributing to and you can join those boards too.

Al you have to do is to go to their profile , then to their boards list and scroll down to find group boards joined by them, the group boards have a round icon with sections.

Untitled 1 Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

USING BOARDS LISTS IN TAILWIND

Now comes the fun part , once your profile is connected to Tailwind you will be able to create lists of boards, they can be listed and grouped in various ways. You can list them in category, by subject or by interest. I like to keep separate board lists to promote my products, and a separate list to promote my blog posts. Again you can figure this out once you have joined a few group boards and you are aware of your audience. Where they are and what they are interested in .

screencapture tailwindapp dashboard publisher lists 2019 02 18 14 11 16 Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

Creating a board list is very simple. Go to “Publish” and “Board Lists” tab, click to add a new board list and organize your boards in categories. It’s so easy to sort out your boards and it will save you so much time in the future. Whenver you are ready to pin one of your pins to multiple group boards , the board list will come on top of list and you can simply choose from there.

Tailwind will distribute this pin to all the boards keeping in view your time schedule ( explained in detail below)

tailwind free trial coupon Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

iconfinder flower 2006448 Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website SMART LOOP FEATURE

Think about all the content that you have ever created all the product listings , blog posts , items that are currently sitting idle but could be working for you , driving traffic back to your website.

Smart loops makes it easy for you to find every piece of content that you have pinned from your website and find the best performing ones . it then recirculates those pins for you at the best times for engagement over and over again , so that you can get back to doing what you love creating

You can even setup seasonal loops that will circulate only at the specific time of the year . And smart loop will keep track of every loop and pin so that you can perfect your performance over time.

How to create a new loop?

Choose the name for the loop that you are creating based on the category of the items you would like to create looop for maybe it is a list of reciepie blog posts, graphic design articles , or your products. Then decide which boards you would like to share it to? you can include the list of all the boards ranging from your own and group boards. How exciting is this!

You will be able to pull list of group boards right here with just one click, or you can choose single ones as well. This will pull groups that are either yours , from a boards list or from your joined boards.

looping tailwind Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

Next you will give it a time frame confine it to just a custom time of the year or all round the year. Tailwind will pull your best content and will allow you to choose pins of your liking so that you can add them to the loop.

looping tailwind2 Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

How can you use it to drive sales for your products?

Good question right? think about it you no longer have to worry about creating and then worrying about your products sharing all the content again, you really dont have to worry about now. Just create loops based on your products categories and then loop them up. While you are busy creating new posts, new products or simply affiliate products they will keep on looping on auto to those boards for you.

Pinterest templates – Free download

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iconfinder flower 2006448 Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website HOW TO SCHEDULE NEW PINS USING TAILWIND

You can easily install chrome extension for tailwind once installed the tailwind button will appear over the images once mouse is hovered over them.

scheduler pinterest Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

This is really simple, easy and fun way to schedule all your blog posts, your products and your content across all the social medial platforms. When you are scheduling you can add the same pin to facebook, twitter and sharing with tribe members for additional boost. I have found Tailwind as hands down the best social media platform !

Which platform do you use? would you like to try tailwind? get a free month when you use the link provided below!

tailwind free trial coupon Best Pinterest Scheduler to increase Traffic to Blog or Website

JOIN THE TAILWIND TRIBE FOR ARTISTS and CREATORS

 

 

How to Convert Drawing to Digital Format in 5 Easy Steps

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links! I only share the products that I love and use and I may mention them in my post. 

 

I struggled for a while really when the need to convert drawing to digital format arose. Being an Artist, it is really getting essential to get ourselves and our art online and sometimes really important to create vector files that are scale-able.

 

When I started workinig digitally, i right away started with working directly through illustrator and Learned the Basics of Vector to get started. If you have a blog or shop or website where you would like to sell your digital artworks ( Read my post on How to sell art online here ) or maybe just plainly want to transfer your work into digital format to color it digitally , first thing first , you need to get it into a line work that is digitally supported.

For digital Artwork , or maybe coloring pages you need to have a clean and crisp black and white line. Here is a little tutorial for really novice artists who would like to do that.

 

 

howtodrawblackandwhite

1-Draw Clean and Bold

Draw with pencil or directly whatever is comfortable for you , keeping in mind that what you are drawing will be scanned and digitally modified and manipulated. More crisp and clean line you have easier it becomes to convert drawing to digital format.

I like to start my drawing with pencil , once I am done with the basic idea , I like to switch directly to a black Fine tipped marker to fill in the details. As I don’t like to rework on my details 🙂 . So it is totally up to you how you draw but the lines must be Clean and Bold .

The tools I use for drawing are

Fine Tipped Black PenRegular Sketch Book I use this oneThe Printer / Scanner that I use

draw-coloring-pages

2-Importance of Right Tools

Nothing can be worst than finishing your pre sketch with pencil and when you start drawing you realize that your sharpie or marker is out of ink!.

Make sure that you have a well-filled marker that gives clean edges. Rough edges means MORE touching up after the artwork is digitally altered.

3- Scan high res

I like to scan my artwork on high resolution , you can ALWAYS go down but you cant go up and scale a pixel image . Also i like to keep my scanner settings to colored and NOT BLACK AND WHITE. Black and white scans give a line contrast that is too much to handle and doesn’t give a smooth line in a final black and white image.

4-Adjust Curves and Brightness.

Finally in Photoshop you can adjust the Curves and play around with the brightness and contrast to get a clean and crisp image quality.

2015-05-09_19-51-53 2015-05-09_19-51-553

5-Vactorize!

Last but not the least , you can copy your final clean image Ctrl+A  (select all) and place Ctrl+V (Paste) into illustrator and then trace it !

Untitled-1

Result is a clean crisp outline that you can scale to any size you like WITHOUT LOOSING its line quality. Some additional steps you might want to take after the vactorization step is complete is to convert it to outline and clean the white area . I have explained cleaning the outlines in another post that you can Read about Right here.

 

After you are finished with your work you might need to make the lines more professional and clean you. Check out these Line Art brushes that are really helpful

Grab a copy of basic Line Art Brushes here

02b How to Convert Drawing to Digital Format in 5 Easy Steps

 

 

 

Here is how I Color drawing in illustrator Learn How to Draw Vector {BASICs}- PART 1Tutorial How to Create a Cute HippoHow to Draw a Cartoon Duck , Character

How to Create Editable PDF file

lessons How to Create Editable PDF file

how to I was just asked by a fellow designer who wants to sells printable party invitations through her etsy store and wants to know how to create an editable downloadable printable pdf file that works with invitations and other instant downloads .

I created this simple screencast for her maybe it is of use for someone else out there also looking for a similar solution.

I have used Adobe Acrobat X pro Writer

Let me know if you need help somewhere!

Do you love AiVault? Don’t miss another post. Click here to Subscribe to AiVault Blog by Email and receive new updates in your inbox !

Graphic Design Tip : Converting Pngs to JPGs Batch image conversion

Photoshop-image-tutorial-tips

Keen on finding a way to save some graphic design time ? and batch process some Pngs into JPGs . I am mostly working in Photoshop and i like to keep my images quality closest possible to the original file . For this i use Photoshop Actions to create short cuts to accomplish a job where a batch processing might be required to handle images. (more…)

How To Print Business Cards At Home

how to print business cards at home

 

How to  print business cards at home?

Make sure that your business card is set up in an aligned space within A4 Size sheet that fits your printer. In one single A4 Sheet you can print 8 – 10 Business Card. The Standard Size Business Cards is 3.5″ x 2.0″ . Read on I will explain in detail about how many cards, what type of paper and best practices for printing business cards at home.

I recommend this printer , it works very well for home printing at home and these papers for printing at home .

How can i make business Cards at home?

I often get this question asked whenever I design business card for a small business who are in need of a quick printing of their newly designed business cards. Often the printing companies that offer business card services refuse to print in small quantities. So this leaves you with the question how to print them at home using your own printer.

Sometimes you do not even have a budget to have them printed so below are some of my best tips for printing at home.

10068 811167 How To Print Business Cards At Home10068 How To Print Business Cards At Home

1- How to Create a printable pdf file for business cards?

You can design your own business cards in the software of your choice maybe word , powerpoint, Photoshop or Canva . Save it is a high resolution JPG file that you can later embed into a single A4 Sheet in 8-10 numbers.

I prefer to use canva, they already have tons of designs that you can choose from and design your own business cards. You can get Canva for free with  30 days pro account and create and print your cards.

But if this is your own design then you might want to download and use this simple template that I have created. Just place your design within the marked positions and print!

2- How you can save some inks on printing?

You are printing 100 – 300 cards at home , which is a pretty graceful number for starters . Begin by designing a cards that ismaximum three colors .

I printed my business cards at home for the newly set up business of party invites and printable  Print Me a Party.
The design was kept simple to give it a crafty feel with just a few colors. Sticking to just the  basic colors , i used type writer font for the details of the design .
Few colors means less ink!

IMG_3639[1]

Looking for a Graphic Designer to Design your professional and impactful business cards ? 👉Lets get connected 

PS : Do mention “I am printing at home” so we can design the best option for you.

3-ChooseThe Right Printer Settings

Before you hit a printing command make sure the correct paper is chosen . This also saves some inks.If you are using regular text weight copy paper, do make the following printer adjustments:

Under ”Quality & Media” in Adobe Reader®’s print window, set your printer to  ”high” quality  & choose “plain

Or
if you are using photo paper thats Matt then under ”Quality & Media” in Adobe Reader®’s print window, set your printer to  ”standard” quality  & choose “matte photo paper”.

4- Keep it simple

Do not go over board by showing off all your creative skills and designing a very textured and dark design . Keep it simple and think wisely while designing the amount of inks it will call for.

A good designer is the one who can design right product for right circumstances. And there are many designers or ones who do not have enough printing experience , hence resulting in more printing costs for you.

5 – Use textured paper instead

Simplify the design but use a textured paper instead . A simple texture on the paper effects the final result .

6 – Use colored paper.

Experiment with a few prints by printing just a single card on colored papers . Expect to have the final result different as it appears on screen as if you are printing red over yellow it will be printed as orange.

Have you printed at home? What advice you can give ? Any tips of printing that others can benefit from?

Related Article :

7 Most Practical illustrator Tutorials to get you started with printing

illustrator Tutorials : How to create a Chevron vector graphics patterns illustrator

Chevron stripes have always been in fashion , and i don’t remember seeing anything with chevron stripes that doesn’t look good ! have you? . And when it comes to creating vector chevron patterns in illustrator it cant be easier than this and below i will tell you how.

I have earlier talked about some Premade vector patterns brushes that you can easily apply to a line in illustrator . And create instant effect of various chevron lines .

OR

if you are not at all familiar with What are vector brushes you can check out these posts of mine about vector patterns illustrator.

Tip #1  CHANGING APPEARANCE OF SCATTER BRUSHES
Tip #2 CHANGING APPEARANCE OF VECTOR BRUSHES
Tip #3 VECTOR TUTORIAL ON MAKING DESIGNS USING BRUSHES
Tip # 4 HOW TO USE VECTOR BRUSHES

chevron-pattern-tutoriabigl

This video cast shows how in a few steps you can create chevron patterns brushes for illustrator the vector brushes are easy to use and can be easily colored for different widths and sizes.

The process is really simple and i have used the same technique to create Chevron striped pattern brushes .

[products_categories_slider title=”Some of the premade brushes” per_page=”-1″ numbers=”yes” hide_empty=”yes” style=”traditional” orderby=”menu_order” order=”desc” category=”1160, ” ]
OR HOW ABOUT SOME FREE RESOURCES?

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Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

Adobe illustrator tutorial draw a vector illustrato halloween character

Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

Welcome to our step-by-step Adobe Illustrator tutorial, where we’ll be delving into the world of vector art to create an adorable mummy character. Unleash your creativity and join us on this artistic journey as we learn essential Illustrator techniques to bring this cute and quirky mummy to life.

Whether you’re a seasoned illustrator or a complete beginner, this tutorial will equip you with the skills to create stunning vector artwork that can be used in various projects. So, let’s dust off our digital bandages and get ready to unravel the secrets of vector illustration as we craft our very own charming mummy character

First of all the preview of what we will be creating.

PREVIEW

mummy Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

STEP 1

Start off by creating a simple square , using the square shape tool while pressing shift create a perfect square and color it a light  blue color.

01 Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

STEP 2

Next use the mesh tool  (U) and create a mesh node anywhere you like and  , now using the direct selection tool (A) select the central node and color it a lighter shade.

Learn more about mesh tool

02 Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

STEP 3

Creating eyes! , draw a black circle and on top of it draw another circle that is white , now using mesh tool create another color point on the white circle , give it a slight blue colour.

Read more about coloring in illustrator

03 Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

STEP 4

Pretty obvious what i did here , one more black and two more white circles.

monster illustrator tut 0006 Background Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

STEP 5

Using Pen tool create a smily little mouth

TIP : to join end points select both point and hit CTRL+J

monster illustrator tut 0005 Layer 1 Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

STEP6

Use rounded rectangle tool and create three teeth side by side.

monster illustrator tut 0003 Layer 3 Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

STEP 7

Using Pen tool(P) draw a gradient filled shape , i start randomly and keeping it a bit rough kept on wrapping up my mummy boxter.

monster illustrator tut 0002 Layer 4 Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

STEP 8

Free hand drawing using pen tool continues.

monster illustrator tut 0001 Layer 5 Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

STEP 9

DONE!

monster illustrator tut 0000 Layer 6 Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

**Boxterz is a collection of whimsical boxed characters which are my new line of illustrations registered and ready for licensing , for licensing inquiries please contact me .
The Character is registered please do not copy or distribute for commercial usage , all rights reserved.
 
DOWNLOAD SOURCE FILE ( ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR)

You May also like Some more Vector Drawing` Tutorials!

Step by Step Illustration tutorial :How to Draw Halloween Square Mummy Character

 

illustrator techniques : Get rid of that meshy messy mesh effect oh please!

Here I am again with another illustrator techniques that saved my life so many times. Why am i screaming to get rid of that meshy messy mesh!? well just recently one of my illustrations Happy sun and moon was requested to be transformed into a wall decal for kids room. My problem arrived when i opened up the original file in my hard drive all colored up using mesh tool with the same technique that i used in coloring . And now converting the design into a flat appearance-less file for process of cutting the decal silhouette was required. Below is the preview of the illustrated objects and decal design if you are wondering 🙂

CA125prev0 illustrator techniques : Get rid of that meshy messy mesh effect oh please!

and the decal design

twogoo illustrator techniques : Get rid of that meshy messy mesh effect oh please!

The Scenario

I want to get rid of mesh color fills messing up my file , yes as much as i love coloring up with mesh in works like this , things might get messy , as mesh refuses to go away from the final file even though i have deleted all the color nodes , the appearence pallete still shows Mesh points! and it just wont show how to delete the mesh points!?    Yikes! help!

The Solution

Select the shape (now just outline of no mesh fills visible but still  a mesh shape) go to path > offset path and create a new path just slightly offset this will result in a slightly bigger shape but with no mesh points! Voila i’m a happy girl 🙂 . If anyone has  a better way of cleaning that up i or a solution where i can just remove it let me know !

 

How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator – How To Draw Skull Vector

How to draw a skeleton Skull is really easy in vector. This skeleton drawing tutorial is great for beginners  This vector Adobe illustrator Tutorial covers making of a sugar skull illustration using easy and basic illustrator tools .

By the end of this tutorial you will know how easy it is to draw a skull using illustrator. It is more of a visual walk through i will be glad to describe any step if you need help along the way just leave a comment and i will get back.
Draw-skeleton-skull-illustrator-tutorial

we will be working our way toward the following illustration of a skull

How to draw a skull easy for beginners

Tools used during Adobe illustrator Tutorial include

  • pathfinder
  • PenTool
  • 3D Tool
  • Using Brushes

Check out list of other vector tutorials for beginners are available on this site for more info on a specific tools

Draw A Skeleton Skull in illustrator

STEP 1 : USING DRAWING TOOL FOR THE OUTLINE OF THE SKULL OF A SKELETON

Draw A Skeleton Skull in vector step 1

 

STEP 2 : CREATING TEETH SHAPES ON THE LOWER PART OF HEAD USING PATHFINDER TOOL
Draw A Skeleton Skull in vector step 2

STEP 3 : FREE HAND DRAWING USING PEN TOOL FOR SHAPES

041 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector

Draw a skeleton in vector
Draw a skeleton in vector

STEP 4 : PATHFINDER TO JOIN SHAPES
Draw a skeleton in vector
Draw a skeleton in vector
Draw a skeleton in vector
STEP 5 : ADDING DETAIL OF EYES, NOSE & OTHER SKULL ELEMENTS

Draw a skeleton in vector

Draw a skeleton in vector
Draw a skeleton in vector
Draw a skeleton in vector
Draw a skeleton in vector makingof the head of the sugar skull
17 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
18 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
19 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
20 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
21 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
How to draw a skull easy for beginners Adobe illustrator Tutorial
23 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
24 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
Draw a skeleton in vector using vector brushes
26 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
27 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
28 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
29 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
30 How To Draw A Skeleton Skull Using Adobe illustrator - How To Draw Skull Vector
How to draw a skull easy for beginners Adobe illustrator Tutorial

How to draw a skull easy for beginners

How to draw a skull easy for beginners Adobe illustrator Tutorial covers making of a sugar skull illustration using easy and basic illustrator tools . This vector tutorial shows how easy it is to draw a skull using illustrator

Tips & Tricks : How to Convert the Photoshop Brushes to Paint Shop Pro Brushes

I often receive this question so that how to convert the photoshop brushes to Paint Shop Pro brushes , though i am Completely a Photoshop person and do not ever use Paint shop Pro , but since most of the users who download brushes from my shop do use Paint shop Pro and ask this question….. here is how it is done

1. Start Paint Shop Pro
2. Go to File -> Open and browse to the folder where the  .png files are
3.  Paint Shop Pro can not handle brushes bigger than 999px and in older versions 600px  you’ll have to go to resize the image to make a copatable brush for this go to  Image->Resize  the bigger side will be reduced to minimum 999px
4. Go to File->Export->Custom Brush
5. name it ,  and hit OK
6. In “Edit Paths” make sure you export the brush into your default Paint Shop Pro brush folder.
7. The new brush is available to play around with!

And Voila! Here they are! Your brand new Photoshop Brushes are now in Paint Shop Pro.

The brushes that i offer through my store do come with PNG files to make it easier for you to use either as a digital stamp OR convert it to your own brush set for your software of use.

Vector Tutorial : Exporting animated SWF files from illustrator

[private]preview Vector Tutorial : Exporting animated SWF files from illustratorThis tutorial was originally written for Premium members , and have stayed in the private collection for too long , it is time to get this story a little attention 🙂 so i am reposting this tutorial for regular readers. Hope you like it.

In this tutorial i will show you how to set up an illustrator document for working in illustrator to work better in flash. I will also tell you how to create an animation IN illustrator FOR flash. And export animated swf files from illustrator . Source file is available for download at the end of the tutorial. (more…)

Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

[private]Recently i worked upon creating a splash page for Vector pics website

I created this tutorial which will walk you through the making of this page , illustration was first sketched , i will admit that the final image changed considerably from the initial sketches but below you will find some step by step making of the splash page with little description and the details of the tools involved.

Step 1

Starting with just the basic shapes squares and rectangles i followed up my initial sketches to lay down the structure of the house nothing fancy just squares and rectangles.

home 0019 Layer 1 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 2

Selecting nodes started distorting the shapes and forms.

home 0018 Layer 2 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 3

Two shapes united to make further shapes

home 0017 Layer 3 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 4

Round up the corners of the stroke for a better formation

home 0016 Layer 4 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 5

Some details added to the windows

home 0015 Layer 5 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

home 0014 Layer 6 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 6

Using my most handy tools vector brushes for strokes.

home 0013 Layer 7 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 7

Added some basic patterns to shapes , here i created a copy of the shape broght it forward and filled it up with the basic graphics dots swatch.

home 0012 Layer 8 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 8

Finished creating one window and  copied and placed it on other locations as well.

home 0011 Layer 9 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step -9

The brick wall detail was creating using Drawing brush strokes of different widths.

home 0010 Layer 10 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 10

Randomly placed grouped copies of the bricks.

home 0009 Layer 11 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 11

Time to color , i planned out the colors i would like to use .

ILLUSTRATOR TIP: Keep small shapes filled with your pallet on your work area easier to pick and fill with eye dropper tool. if you are lazy like me in creating swatches everytime 😉

home 0008 Layer 12 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 12

Further coloring and shadows creation , i simply created duplicates of the shapes and placed them in a lower layer , with a darker color and reduced the transparency.

home 0007 Layer 13 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 13

Place Shadows against your imaginary source of light to give life to the object.

home 0006 Layer 14 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 14

Further details added a knob to the door , copies of circular shape in different shapes.

home 0005 Layer 15 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 15

Development of shadows and light continues

home 0004 Layer 16 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

home 0003 Layer 17 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 16

Since i plan to place this house against a light blue background i placed an oval shape behind just to get the whole feel of the direction color harmony is going to . ( Knowing background will be developed in photoshop)

home 0002 Layer 18 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 17

We’re in photoshop now! copied and placed a little grass layer with copies of one symbol.

home 0001 Layer 19 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Step 18

Added some cloud shapes . some text and extras like the little bird on the tree.

home 0000 Layer 21 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

home 0000 Layer 22 Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

PREVIEW

page Vector Tutorial : The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

Visit Vectorpics.com

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illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

[private]Here is the preview of one of my flash animations which is well received through ActiveDen click the image below to see it in action

illustratorcloud tutorial 0000 Layer 19 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

And since this was created such long ago i no longer have the source file of this in my system , the vector version 🙁 . Anyway i just wrote down this tutorial while i redrew it for another project that came across.

At the end of the tutorial you can download the source file as well .
lets move to some simple steps using pathfinder and offset path to create the weather icon of clouds pouring big drops of rain.

Step 1-

Draw a bunch of circles
illustratorcloud tutorial 0018 Layer 1 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 2-

Use pathfinder to unite all the shapes in one , and if you miss some place in the middle which didnt add up to the final shape just use direct selection tool (A) to select and delete them.
illustratorcloud tutorial 0017 Layer 2 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 3-

Give it a nice blue stroke with rounded Cap.
illustratorcloud tutorial 0016 Layer 3 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 4-

Next Expand the stroke
Object > Expand
illustratorcloud tutorial 0015 Layer 4 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 5-

Right click the shape and ungroup the whole thing
illustratorcloud tutorial 0014 Layer 5 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 6-

Now i will use offset path to create a similar smaller shape in the middle.
Object>Path>Offset Path keep the offset in negative to give you an inner shape.
illustratorcloud tutorial 0013 Layer 6 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 7-

Select the inner shape that you just created and give it a gradient fill.
illustratorcloud tutorial 0012 Layer 7 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 8-

Now we have another filled area which HAD a stroke of blue behind it (as expanded in step 4) , select that and ungroup
illustratorcloud tutorial 0011 Layer 8 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 9-

Select the white fill and using eye dropper tool give it a gradient as well.
illustratorcloud tutorial 0010 Layer 9 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 10-

Select the two gradient filled cloud shape bring them forward
Right click > arrange > bring to front
Move the two shapes towards left a bit , just to give the blue outline some character and life. you will also noticed that i i changed the blue stroke tone here a bit.
illustratorcloud tutorial 0009 Layer 10 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 11-

Just to add a little bit of interest in the cloud shape i created an eclipse shape using two circle and then again pathfinder to minus the front.
illustratorcloud tutorial 0008 Layer 11 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 12-

Arrange this shape on the cloud somewhere anywhere you like to achieve something like this…
illustratorcloud tutorial 0007 Layer 12 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 13-

Notice here i started to build up the final look , so i added a blue background to the cloud shape just to see things clearly on how they will look on my final project . Give the shape a bit of drop shadow.
Effects>stylize>Drop Shadow

illustratorcloud tutorial 0006 Layer 13 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 14-

Create a copy Scale and arrange .

illustratorcloud tutorial 0005 Layer 14 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

illustratorcloud tutorial 0004 Layer 15 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 15-

I drew a small circle and selected the top node with direct selection tool (A) and just pulled it upward a bit and then adjusted its handles to create a drop of water . This drop has the same gradient fill and same shadow effect.

illustratorcloud tutorial 0003 Layer 16 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

illustratorcloud tutorial 0002 Layer 17 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Step 16-

We are done!
Here is what i came up with

illustratorcloud tutorial 0001 Layer 18 illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

Click on the link below to download the source CS file.

[download id=”88″ format=”3″]

illustrator tutorial : Create simple but effective Weather Icons in adobe illustrator

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How to Export User list from WordPress Database for mailing lists

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** Please read important!

1-Login to your hosting account in this case i am currently hosting my site at HostMonster , usually the Cpanel is the same . 2-After you login to CPanel Look for PHP My Admin 3-Now look for Databases Tab And then click on the appropriate Database you want to export user list from After the Database open look for the Query Tab on the top Capture How to Export User list from Wordpress Database for mailing lists And now you must run a Query! In this Tab you will look for the following box ie Use Tables > Select Wp-users Capture1 How to Export User list from Wordpress Database for mailing listsNext Since our Mailing list requires  the list in the following order Username , User Email Address , User Display name I chose the following option for the Query. Capture2 How to Export User list from Wordpress Database for mailing listsHit Update Query and you will get something like this Capture3 How to Export User list from Wordpress Database for mailing lists Hit Submit Query Button and you will get a full list of users something like this Capture4 How to Export User list from Wordpress Database for mailing lists Click on Select All ( located at the end of the list) Now click on the Export button located at the end of the list and in the next window that opens use the options or set them up according to your mailing list provider , ie how to separate the id , email address and name by , or ; My selection is the following Capture5 How to Export User list from Wordpress Database for mailing listsAnd now i hit go to save the CSV file , ready for my use!

Please Note!

**I have very limited knowledge of handling database and coding , i am more of a designer that too self taught 🙂
this is just a presentation of How I export my CSV file . Please do not play around with the database if you do not have enough understanding of what you are doing . I/this site will take no responsibility if you experience any difficulties in the final outcome or any loss of data while you are following this tutorial. It is more of a recording and blogging on my part to save my everyday learning experiences.

I hope this helps you somehow though ! 🙂 Happy exporting![/private]

Tutorial : How to create Rounded Corners with Decorative overlays

rounded frames in photoshop tutorial

rounded frames in photoshop tutorial

This tutorial will Show you how to use decorative overlays on your photographs.

Learning level – Beginner

I am using Floral Decorative overlay frames with slightly rounded off edges .(I’m using Adobe Photshop Creative Suite 3 *PSCS4* in this tutorial, but you can achieve this same thing in any Photo Editing program that supports PNG files. i.e. Photoshop Elements, etc.)

prev011 Tutorial : How to create Rounded Corners with Decorative overlays

prev02 Tutorial : How to create Rounded Corners with Decorative overlays

1. Go to: FILE>OPEN> & find your photo.

beautiful island Tutorial : How to create Rounded Corners with Decorative overlays

1. Go to: FILE>OPEN>and open up any of the frames that you would like to use as an overlay , here i browsed and opened up a frame from the calender photoshop brushes set (remember? facebook fans received it for free? still free to download through the store)

When you have opened the png You will see some Grey and white boxes behind around the frames don’t be alarmed since it is a png file this area means it is transparent.

i chose to use this frame go ahead right click and save it to your disk if you want.

04 Tutorial : How to create Rounded Corners with Decorative overlays

3. With your Move Tool, drag & drop your photo ON TOP of the black PNG file. Your Layer Palette will look like this.

ol1 Tutorial : How to create Rounded Corners with Decorative overlays4. Go to: LAYER>CREATE CLIPPING MASK.

ol2 Tutorial : How to create Rounded Corners with Decorative overlays5- And your image will create a clipping mask showing off the image something like this!

ol3 Tutorial : How to create Rounded Corners with Decorative overlays6- Save it as a jpg , post it to your blog or any other project you are doing. you can play more with it further to create some background color for it. but that’s totally upto you!

Here the jpg saved preview

ol52 Tutorial : How to create Rounded Corners with Decorative overlays

Find out more photoshop brushes , frames and overlays , digital backgrounds , textured papers at the aivault store. Keen on learning more check out more tutorials on this site

Creating graphics in Power point

Frankly speaking i never did explore the power of point , except for creating once in a while backgrounds for presentations for my work . Which in fact is fun and quite rewarding . But using it as a drawing tool? never quite thought of it until Tom Kuhlmann created a similar power point tutorial version of one of my previously written tutorial  How to create an envelope icon with a satin Feel

envelope1 Creating graphics in Power point

This is how my version’s outcome looked like and below is Tom’s Version created entirely in PowerPoint

envelope2a Creating graphics in Power point

Tom also shares a video and step by step tutorial on his site Go take a look![/private]

Fonts and Typography : Create your Own Font illustrator

Fonts and Typography : Create your Own Font illustrator

Fonts and Typography : Create your Own Font illustrator

This tutorial will take you through creating a custom Font while understanding the dynamics of Blend Tool .

*By definition, a blend is the result of two or more items that are combined. In Adobe® Illustrator®, a blend is a set of at least two objects that morph into each other. In an example where you are blending two objects, Illustrator generates new shapes that appear between the two objects, making it seem like one of the objects is turning into the other. The iterations that are created between the two main objects (also referred to as key objects) are called steps

 

 

(more…)

illustrator technique: Tutorial how to tilt a pattern fill

I get questions through email time after time , which i mostly answer through email . I thought it is a better idea to answer these through Aivault post! So today’s questions is How to tilt a pattern fill? Answer is very easy. …

Step 1

give your shape a fill which is as easy as clicking on the shape then choosing a swatch pattern to fill it up.

01 illustrator technique: Tutorial how to tilt a pattern fill

Step 2

Select the rotate tool in the toolbar and double click it  a tool window will open which will give you few options.

02b illustrator technique: Tutorial how to tilt a pattern fill

You must deselect “Object”  (if that is not what you want and only want to scale the pattern fill) enter the angle value and hit ok .

02 illustrator technique: Tutorial how to tilt a pattern fill

Step 3

Hit ok and the pattern fill is tilted to your desired angel. Easy right?

03 illustrator technique: Tutorial how to tilt a pattern fillGot a Question you need answer to? Submit it and i will try to answer it as soon as i can!

Thanks for reading! have a nice day!

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illustrator technique : Create a Swatches Palette from artwork with one click

This illustrator technique  is pretty useful sometimes , when you are done with a particular artwork and would like to work on something else using the same color scheme as well.Or sometimes the artwork has mesh tool and using mesh you have come up with new colors which are not part of your actual swatch. You can easily extract colors from the artwork either by using this tip that i shared a while ago OR by using this one click method!
Here i have created a Japanese dol and i used mesh tool for coloring her. As you can see , my swatch panel just has basic colors with which i started .
Capture11 illustrator technique : Create a Swatches Palette from artwork with one click
Click on the small arrow next to swatches panel and browse to Add used color , no fancy wordings either just straight to the point!. See below?
Capture2 illustrator technique : Create a Swatches Palette from artwork with one click

And there ! you have it , full swatches panel of all the colors used! Neat isnt it? 🙂
Capture3 illustrator technique : Create a Swatches Palette from artwork with one click
I hope this Tip will be useful for someone out there , i have few more with which i will be returning later. thanks for looking !

illustrator technique : Create a Swatches Palette from artwork with one click

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illustrator in photoshop Tips : Exporting Layers as PNG files

illustrator to photoshop illustrator in photoshop Tips : Exporting Layers as PNG filesIf you are looking for a way to open your work of illustrator in photoshop then you are in the right place!

Since i love sharing adobe illustrator tutorial and tips using adobe illustrator you can also look into the list of all the other fun adobe illustrator tutorials I have shared earlier few of the top ones are mentioned below !

Related Reading : 38+ illustrator and photoshop Tutorials 
Related Reading : Learn illustrator how to draw adobe illustrator tutorial

So how do you open illustrator file in photoshop? and export layers as PNG files?

This one is very short and sweet , i was working on a few files and this was a big file with numerous illustrations which i needed to convert to JPG and well as PNG . And while searching through google i found this little handy dandy script to help you open png files

illustrator in photoshop Export Illustrator Layers and/or Artboards as PNGs and PDFs

using this script you can choose to export as PDFs in addition to PNGs, and you can also export the product of artboards and layers.

Click here to Download the Script 

opening illustrator in photoshop adobe illustrator tutorials

Just create layers and then just run the script , the png is cropped to the artboard and saved through illustrator to the folder of your choice.
And if you are looking for a way to do the same in photoshop then fear not , Photoshop CS4 already has a built in script for this . But what about someone who has CS3? well here is a very useful link for Photoshop CS3 exporting to layers PNGs Seekers . Find it here!.

More illustrator in photoshop Tips

illustrator in photoshop Tips : Exporting Layers as PNG files

Related Reading :

38+ illustrator and photoshop Tutorials 
Learn illustrator how to draw adobe illustrator tutorial

advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

Tutorial Level :- advanced illustrator tutorials
Techniques Used :- Live paint & Knife tool
Reference illustration :- Ella At Peace

STEP 1

Create and decide the Artwork you want to work on

Since my aim here is just to share with you the process of coloring i will not be going much further in the details of drawing process but i will just elaborate my drawing a bit. I start by creating a sketch , then keeping it in front of me as a reference i turn to Flash . And start working with basic shapes circles and lines , here is a past tutorial on aivault which will show you how. After i am done i export the lines as illustrator 8 document . After opening it up in illustrator i have a clean crisp line which is exactly what i want. This little girl is part of a digital stamps series that i am creating for Aifactory Crafters community , her name is Ella and she is sitting in a yoga pose here 🙂 .

STEP 2

Choose Color Pallette

After I am done with the drawing I turn to color palette and decide on colors with a set of squares filled up with color tones for reference .

It is a good idea to convert your choice of colors into swatches if you are going to proceed with coloring using live paint.
advanced illustrator tutorials
In order to shift colors to swatches palette select a color and then from the tool bar drag and drop it into the swatches panel.

03 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

STEP 3

Coloring using palette

Once you have your color palette ready select your drawing which needs to be colored . you can easily navigate to next color by moving next arrow buttons on your keyboard. Select the color and then the paint bucket and start filling in the colors.
04 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

Keep on coloring selecting colors and filling spaces up, what fun!

05 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool
After you are done filling in the basic flat fills you will now see a bounding box something similar to the one below . The whole drawing is at the moment one object , click on expand button you see on the top bar.

07 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool
Right click and ungroup , this will break every section apart.
08 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

STEP 4

Shading

I love using mesh tool in my coloring it is a very handy and useful little shading tool , select a section and after selecting the mesh tool and your desired color click anywhere on the flat shaped area.
09 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

Continue with the shading wherever you require , more fun!!

10 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

Now i will be using another useful technique to give form to the body of the girl . I chose to start with the face click on the shape area and create and reserve a copy of it.

11 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

For her blushing cheeks create a circle with the same fill color as her face color . Select pink color and with mesh tool click anywhere in the middle of this circle.

12 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

Make a copy of it and place on both cheeks. simple hun?!

13 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

Now with the reserved face shape copy , using the knife tool cut out across the face somewhat like below
14 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool
Discard the middle section and bring the cutout shape over Ella’s face. Give it a slightly darker tone .

15 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

you can further adjust it by reducing the transparency level as well.
16 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

Now for the shape and form of the body i will repeat the same step

17 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool
Another way is just to choose the section , thanks to paint bucket and expand , we can easily select each section and slice it where it is and shade it.
18 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool
I placed a green circle behind Ella and clicked in the middle while picking up a lighter tone . Below you will see i played with it a bit further and drew a flower on her shirt and clicked a few more times with mesh tool using another tone for hair. And i am done! Ella is all done , sweet and cute , i love her!
19 advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool
Ella is available for download through Aifactory store you can find her HERE

advanced illustrator tutorials : Coloring illustrations using mesh and knife tool

How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

This detailed advanced illustrator tutorials how to create a diamond sparkling necklace metal tutorial will show you how i created the Diamond necklace available to download freely from Aivault through this post. The steps described here will take you through the process of drawing then coloring using very simple steps.

It is not a basic learning tutorial , i expect you to already know drawing tools , basics of drawing , pathfinder tool , live paint and using guides.

OR if you are starting out Read more tutorials on this site

Step 1

CREATING THE DIAMOND SHAPE

Star-off by creating a circle and we all know how to it by now 🙂
01 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
Next we will make use of the guides and star dividing the shape with equally sized straight lines and guide as a reference.
02 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
03 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

Step 2

USING GUIDES FOR DIVIDING THE SHAPE

Create a copy of one horizontal and one vertical line , select the rotate tool , while pressing alt create and rotate a copy of both lines as well as the guide lines.
04 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
Keeping the intersecting point of the guides and the lines as a reference align a square inside it , similar to the one seen below.
05 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
As shown below create a copy like we did with the lines and rotate it .
06 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
Now we need more guides placed , now i dont know any other way of creating the angled guides , i never really explored how to do it 🙂 , my process is to first unlock your diagonal and vertical guide select both using select tool , click on the intersecting point hold shift+alt and rotate the copy . Holding Shift will give you a snap to the middle point. hope it is clear below you can see the screen shot while i rotated the guides.
07 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
And here i have a copy done again you can do this by hitting CTRL+D which will repeat your last action.
08 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
With guides being our reference start drawing lines as shown below these are in pink color so you can see the progress

Step 3

ADDING DETAILS

09 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
10 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
11 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

Step 4

COLORING

Now turn off the guides once you are done. select the full divided / drawn circle with lines and square and using the Paint Bucket Tool fill it up with one color.
Ok you might say why not just fill the circle with foreground color change , the technique i used here is to break the full drawing up in sections and i prefer using live color option HOW? see below.
Here the full drawing is selected and then filled up with one single color . the bounding box you see below show that this is a live color object now .
12 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
Click on Expand which you will see on the top bar. This will break the full drawing into devided section making it easy for us to color each. Before doing that left click and ungroup.
13 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
Fill it up with gradience as show below
14 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
Create a star shape , i will not go into detail on how i did this one in short select the star shape tool with 6 points. create a copy place above and give a slightly tinted color.
15 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
16 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

Step 5

CREATING THE BACKGROUND

I created a black bounding box now and had sent it to back so i can better develop the final image. create a circle , and go to object>path offset path to create a bit smaller circle placed inside this one.

17 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

Using live Paint fill it up with gradient Create a copy and align in the middle

18 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

Group the diamond shape that we created above and start placing it inside the RING that we created.

19 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
20 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
21 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

Give a gradient to the rings as show below.

22 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

I created another ring silightly broader to place at the back of this whole drawing. ( create one , offset and use pathfinder to intersect You may want to learn the tools if you dont know then See the Guide here )
23 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

Again take a copy of this broader circle and place at the top , and draw an oval shape filled with same gradient.

Step 6

CREATING THE CHAIN

24 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

Start building the chain with the copy of the same thing

25 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
26 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain
27 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

And Finally the whole thing is complete give a finishing touch by using copy of the SHINE we create using star shape and place it on top

28 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

FINAL PREVIEW

Create more copies and give a bit of transparencies.

29 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

 

30 How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain

How to Create a Vector Diamond Necklace and a Chain[private]I’m Done! Share what you created if you create something using same technique! OR  download the Vector File to explore my work place.[/private]

DOWNLOAD THE SOURCE FILE WHEN YOU ARE A MEMBERLogin Or Sign up

You May also like Some more Vector Basic Drawing Tutorials Or Complete list of Tutorials!

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38 Step By Step illustration techniques and Adobe Illustrator Tutorials to Help you Become a Vector Expert

Writing enough Adobe illustrator tutorials Well not exactly 100 but enough to help someone adopt the same skill and enough illustration techniques is my target! 🙂

It has been 1 1/2 year since the launch of Aivault.com. During this time I wrote Adobe Illustrator tutorials ranging from basics to advance. Here is my compilation for easy bookmarking to these tutorials. If you are starting up with Adobe illustrator check out the Adobe Illustrator Tutorials in the basics and then move at your own pace to bit advanced one.

And if you are confused or stuck with a specific tool let me know I will be glad to write Adobe Illustrator Tutorials on request!

Affiliate Disclosure : This post contains affiliate links, However I only recommend products that I use and greatly recommend and are in my opinion are the best out there.

38 STEP BY STEP ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR TUTORIALS TO HELP YOU BECOME A VECTOR EXPERT

38 STEP BY STEP ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR TUTORIALS TO HELP YOU BECOME A VECTOR EXPERT

BASIC Adobe Illustrator Tutorials 

Know thy workspace

Drawing Basics

HOW TO DRAW A CARTOON CHARACTER ILLUSTRATION 

Using Pathfinder Create a Personalized Badge for your site

Create a simple heart using pen tool

Using Filters Adobe illustrator tutorial.

10 Awsome features in illustrator CS4 that increase creativity to MAX!

How to Create a Pop Design Element using  Spiral Tool

The Mirror Technique: – Creating a Cool Monogram using brushes

An Introduction to Envelope Tool

Draw a Skull illustration 

Create an envelope icon with a satin feel

Using Gradients Create a balloon wallpaper

LEARN ABOUT PATTERNS & SWATCHES 

Smart Scale object or Pattern

How to Create a Seamless Pattern

Expanding Pattern Fills

USING MESH TOOL IN ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR

An intro to mesh tool

Creating Lips using Mesh tool

How to remove mesh fill

Using Blend Tool IN ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR

Making a stamp!

Create a Half Tone Effect Using Blend Tool

UNDERSTAND CONCEPT OF BRUSHES IN ILLUSTRATOR

1-How to Use brushes

2-Changing appearance of Scatter Brushes

3-Changing Appearance of Brushes

4-How to make funky illustrative backgrounds and flourishes

Advance Techniques Illustrator Tutorials

Make your Own Paint Brushes

Using Flash as illustration tool

Understanding Twirl, Crystalize and Envelop Tool

Using Crystallize tool create a Detailed EYE

Exporting animated SWF files from illustrator

3D Effect Adobe Illustrator Tutorials

 How to Create a 3D RSS Icon

Giving Effect to Text

 Tutorial: Create a cool water effect

 Add grunge effect to your text

Printing with illustrator

7 Practical Tutorials to get you started

File Management with illustrator

Getting file ready : Cleaning up illustrations

Photoshop Tips and Tricks

How to convert photoshop brushes to paint shop pro brushes

How to use Overlays in photoshop

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HOW TO MAKE A 38 Step By Step illustration techniques and Adobe Illustrator Tutorials to Help you Become a Vector Expert

illustrator technique : How to Coloring Artwork Using Live Color advanced illustrator tutorials

 

%5BUNSET%5D illustrator technique : How to Coloring Artwork Using Live Color advanced illustrator tutorialsOk i love this illustrator technique : How to Coloring Artwork , this one saved me tons of time last night and i “had” to share it with you.

Ever had the need to create same illustration in multiple colors ? no need to recolor selecting each and every color here is a neat little shortcut in Adobe Illustrator to help you out. Here is my problem and solution walk through! (more…)

Tutorial How to Create a Cute Hippo Character in Vector Character Tutorial Illustrator

AIVAULTTHUMB

How to Create a Cute Hippo Character in Vector .This tutorial will show you how to create cute Hippo Character using simple shapes and a really simple effective drawing technique . This technique has been adopted from recent addition to the store of Animal Head Graphic Set , latest addition to the store. Here is how it is done.

(more…)

illustrator Tutorials : How to create a Television Icon

[private]This easy step by step tutorial contributed by Ryan of Vectips will show you how to create a a retro television icon just with some basic shapes and gradients. These technique are easily applicable to other icons, illustration, and logos!

This Tutorial covers the following basic techniques when using illustrator

  • Using Offset Path on an object
  • Learn to use Gradients to create surface texture and depth
  • Create a reflection using an Opacity Mask

(more…)

7 Most Practical illustrator tutorials to get you started with printing!

 

051 7 Most Practical illustrator tutorials to get you started with printing!

There are number of great tutorials , freebies and resources available throughout the web , and daily the number of helpful articles pop up !. But when it comes to print there are not many  useful and practical guides which make you understand the process . It can be a bit tricky but with guidance in right direction can help you understand the process pretty fast . (more…)

Vector Tip#2:- Changing appearence of Scatter Brushes

[private]Since Launching of Aivault Shopi have been more frequently being questioned about modifying brushes , Here is the latest one “How to change appearance of Scatter Brushes!” . In my opinion scatter brushes are such fun to play around with , and if you have an interesting set of scatter brushes you can achieve variety of effects from it . (more…)

Illustrator Tip : Changing Appearence of Brushes

[private]02 Illustrator Tip : Changing Appearence of BrushesThis little tutorial will show you how to change appear of brushes . I have found this to be very practical when you have certain brushes which are directional ie inclined more to left or right side or above or below a line.

Here is how to change Appearance of Brushes !

Assuming that no Brush palette is open . Go to Window>Brushes (short cut F5) (more…)

How to Create a Vector EYEBALL like Gomedia Freebie!

Have you checked out this awsome freebie from Gomedia of an eyeball popped out? Check that out and view this Video Cast on how to Create a Vector EyeBall yourself which has been popped out with veins and little bit of dripping stuff!something similar to that …..

I have used Line Art Brushes for this tutorial , as well as Vector texture pack from my library. (more…)